Schools use contracts to cut teachers loose
In several Indiana cases, teachers accused of misconduct were allowed to resign rather than be fired
Park Tudor is not the only Indiana school that has allowed a teacher to quietly resign rather than be fired.
A number of Indiana schools have employed the tactic, which can be used to get rid of a problematic employee without risking a costly lawsuit or public embarrassment. Not all cases necessarily involve allegations of criminal conduct.
In the most troubling examples, though, schools allowed teachers to quietly resign after they were accused of criminal sexual behavior with a child.
Officials, parents frustrated with Park Tudor's handling of Kyle Cox probe
Lawrence
A 2009 IndyStar investigation revealed that in four instances, Lawrence Township Schools officials allowed teachers who faced allegations of sexual misconduct to quit rather than be fired.
In one case, the district paid a teacher $19,000 upon resignation, the investigation showed. In two of the cases, officials agreed to keep details about the resignations secret if anyone called for a job reference.
In the remaining case, a Lawrence North teacher racked up a list of warnings over 20 years about sexually harassing, or injuring, students. In one of the most serious allegations, he was accused of raping a student at the school when she showed up in his classroom early for a makeup test. Lawrence Township Schools officials allowed him to quietly resign in 1993.
The agreements were revealed when IndyStar took action to unseal court records in a discrimination lawsuit.
LaPorte
In LaPorte County, a pending lawsuit against LaPorte Community Schools echoes details of the Park Tudor case.
A young woman is suing the school corporation, alleging it failed to protect her from sexual abuse at the hands of former LaPorte High School volleyball coach Robert Ashcraft in 2007. Ashcraft currently is serving a 21-year sentence for having a sexual relationship with the woman when she was a 15-year-old student.
When school officials learned about the relationship in 2008, rather than fire him, they allowed Ashcraft to resign, even as the relationship with the girl persisted until 2009. In 2011, LaPorte County prosecutors charged two school employees with failing to report the relationship.
The two LaPorte High School employees, athletics director Ed Gilliland and head volleyball coach Mary Beth Lebo, agreed to adjudicate the misdemeanor charges through pretrial diversion, which means they avoid having convictions on their records.
"Schools often allow coaches and teachers to resign quietly to avoid the bad publicity that goes along with full disclosure," said Tim Stoesz, the woman's attorney in the civil case.
Perry Township
Perry Township Schools came under fire in a 2009 state audit after it found that a teacher and coach at Perry Meridian High School resigned in November 2005 after an allegation of misconduct, yet collected a paycheck and benefits totaling almost $70,000 for the remainder of the school year.
The case is different from those listed above because the audit — tasked with examining the case from a financial perspective — gives no indication the misconduct allegation was criminal in nature. But the case ignited a battle between the school district and the State Board of Accounts over whether the coach should have been fired, rather than being allowed to resign with a deal to continue his pay.
School attorneys maintained they had the right to accept the teacher's resignation rather than undergo termination procedures. In making their case, they elicited support from superintendents in other local districts.
"Rather than a very costly and acrimonious dismissal process (which may or may not be successful), this form of separation is immediate, permanent and comparatively very inexpensive," former Carmel Clay Superintendent Stephen Tegarden wrote in a memo, noting that he used this strategy at least once.
In the end, the state referred the case to the Marion County prosecutor to investigate questions of ghost employment.
Call IndyStar reporter Madeline Buckley at (317) 444-6083. Follow her on Twitter: @Mabuckley88.